Fears of F1's new regulations failing to improve the overall spectacle of Gran Prix racing crept in after just a few hours of pre-season testing yesterday.
The substantial increase in downforce of F1's 2017 cars is impacting the front-end grip of a car tucked behind another, as Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa were quick to point out.
"I was behind a couple of cars out there and it was harder to follow, as we expected," said Hamilton.
"And then also right now the tyres are so hard that they don't drop off, they just keep going and going and going and going.
"So most likely we're going to be doing a lot more one-stopper [races] and, since there's not degradation, less mistakes, less overtaking.
"That's my prediction, I might be wrong, we'll find out."
Massa felt his new Williams FW40 was comfortable to drive but also underlined the impact of its characteristics.
"Definitely from the driving point of view, it’s much nicer for the driver,” said the Brazilian.
"For the show, I don’t know. I’m sure it will be more difficult to overtake. Today driving behind cars you lose a lot more downforce, the car is also much bigger."
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